Harness Weekly Update: Midwest Mix For Grand Circuit

The TwinSpires Harness Blog Weekly Update covers our successes and failures from selected features and the H2W (horses-to-watch list, now including Hoosier spin-offs).

Thursday, Sept. 30

Episode one of our Mohawk Miles (longshot shots) feature delivered $49.40 on an exacta when 7-1 De Royal Miracle ($8.10, $6.00) finished second to the race favorite. The other swing-for-the-fence decision, 127-1 Lyons Price, finished seventh.

Friday, Oct. 1

The Red Mile Bluegrass series was in full swing, and although we contributed to many wagers, the public’s three favorites won most. Here are the results of our decisions in order of their finishes.

Periculum, $8.00, $3.20, $2.40
Keg Stand, $3.60, $2.20
Letsdoit S, $2.60
Temporal Hanover (2-1), fourth
Fast As The Wind (8-1), fourth
A Girl With Twirls (8-1), fourth
Reenactment (77-1), seventh

Saturday, Oct. 2

For the umpteenth time this season, huge favorite Lyons Sentinel won a stakes with Rocknificent getting the place. It was the Dayton Distaff where we mildly backed 34-1 Alexa Skye, who finished eighth.

In the Dayton Trotting Derby, we had no shot when Ready For Moni (11-1) broke stride at the start and was eliminated. We got second with When Dovescry ($3.00, $2.10).

Last week we gave you Ocean Rock at 5-2, and in the Dayton Pacing Derby he won at 4-5. But we went with This Is The Plan ($3.80), finishing third, and Catch The Fire (7-2), a sad fifth.

H2W LIST RESULTS

The H2W results list across-the-board prices. Exactas listed include a H2W horse finishing second to a race-favorite or if the first two finishers are H2W horses (an asterisk appears when both horses are listed—a cold exacta). The note “OK” determines that prices are correct (even when a show price exceeds a place price or all prices are the same).

Please note that some results reflect horses racing after the blog posts (they appear the following week).

This week, there were 46 active horses (a 17% win hit rate and 41% ATB [across-the-board] hit). Horses with asterisks before their names were tweets @FrankCotolo. Follow for late choices.

Winners

Denton, $18.80, $11.20, $5.30, Vernon
Classic Pro, $9.50, $3.10, $2.50, Yonkers
Shirley Goodness, $6.80, $2.80, $5.80 OK, Hoosier
Pig Iron, $6.60, $4.00, $2.60, Meadows
Uptown Callie, $5.60, $2.60, $2.20, Northfield
Dramatist, $3.20, $2.30, $2.10, Monticello
Evening Stroll, $2.60, $2.10, $2.10 OK, Philly
Given The Goo, $2.20, 2.10, $2.10 OK, Philly

Seconds

Jericho, $5.60, $3.80, Plainridge
All About Lynx, $4.60, $3.20 (Exacta $11.40), Dayton
Chase Lounge, $4.40, $2.10, Philly
Lynbar Rose, $3.00, $2.40 (Exacta $3.85), Yonkers
Tobins Secret, $3.00, $2.10, Meadows
Youda Shark, $2.40, $2.60 OK, Northville
Winter Gram, $2.40, $2.40 OK, Northville

Thirds

Make A Statement A, $4.00, Meadows
Brave By Design, $2.40, Freehold
Play Trix On Me, $2.40, Pocono
His Excellence, $2.10, Monticello

NEWS & NOTES

Grand Circuit events at The Red Mile conclude next Sunday with the biggest stakes, led by the Kentucky Futurity. TwinSpires harness is making arrangements to get the early draws for the Oct. 10 events to post an addendum to its Thursday preview blog. Watch the Racing section on the TwinSpires.com Edge for special coverage.

The Meadowlands and Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association of New Jersey announced more than $2 million in new stakes events for state-sired two- and three-year-olds in 2022. The "New Jersey Classics" offer colt-and-filly divisions raced in an elimination/final format for trotters and pacers with an "A" and "B" division offered for all. The trots have a final purse estimated at $300,000 for the A division and $100,000 for the B division. The pacers go for $150,000 in the A and $75,000 in the B.

Alberta harness racing does not get much ink east of Edmonton, but bettors should be aware that local interest is becoming more serious, which translates to more racing and better opportunities for players. The recent Alberta Standardbred Horse Association (ASHA) held its 2021 Yearling Sale at Century Downs. The sale was successful with 32 yearlings fetching five figures. The sale-topper was Diva Amour, a Custard The Dragon filly out of the Artsplace mare Art Amour, for $44,000.

Extraordinary Extras

Indulge in our columns, Alternative Actions and Bettors Banquet, at Harness Racing Update.